tony&rodney

Wow, just Wow. That looked intentional on the umpires' part.

I can agree that Wallner should protect on close pitches but it is insane to swing at pitches well out of the strike zone.

It sure looks a lot like the old time rookie treatment. Their strike out rates were down in AAA because of the ABS/challenge system in place. It wasn't due to the clearly superior pitching at the MLB level. Baseball needs to go to an ABS system next season. I never thought I would agree with that but it is clear that it is needed.

Same old strike outs and failure to move runners. Fundamental baseball is not high on Falvey's checklist.

The optics are pretty unusual. Buxton can still run but apparently pays a high price every time he runs and was not considered at any point this season to be fit enough physically to play in the field despite the open acknowledgment that being a DH was very difficult for Byron and likely affected him. It is what it is. I'm wondering if Buxton is at a point in his life where he is concerned with his ability to walk without pain and where he decides that the debilitating pain and the potential further damage to his mobility has reached the critical stage. I would not be at all surprised if he is facing retirement.

Good topic for the postseason. Expect trades (possibly one or more of your favorite guys) and a reduced payroll.

John Prine - " stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood ..." The game has changed from 2017 to 2023. Baldelli isn't Molitor. The 2023 Twins have a much higher budget and payroll than the 2017 squad. The general consensus is that a strike out is an out, big deal. So there are annoying features of baseball today. Whatever, the pitcher-batter chess match is still compelling for me. There has been some fun Twins baseball to watch this season. Julien found a way to get the runs across today. Pablo Lopez has been terrific. Max Kepler is on a mini resurgence at the plate. Carlos Correa struggles at the plate and still manages to make every play in the field. The Twins were picked to be a .500 team more or less and are hanging above .500 right now. The next fifteen games should be interesting. A record of 8-7 would be fine and a 9-6 stretch would pretty much push the Twins into the postseason. Too many strike outs all year but a 2-0 win and a lead in the division is worth something.

We found our new set up guy.

Sands is real.

.... and Gallo too? I have neither seen either cash a check. Wait, what are checks? I think there might be a minimum wage law somewhere though. On a more serious note - where is Cole Sands?

Lewis needs to learn to play within himself.

MLB has a bit of a problem with umpires. There isn't any system in play to reward or demote an umpire. The games are reviewed and internal discussions occur but consequences are absent. There needs to be a system of financial compensation for excellence and demotion for shoddy work. I struggle to see the positives with challenges, especially when so many are clearly wrong. That said, I do believe that MLB has very good umpires in general.

Lewis looks really good but has a couple of things to fix. Against some right handed pitchers he steps in the bucket. Also, Royce tends to be very pull conscious, which hurts him badly on pitches down. Lewis has good power the other way and needs to trust his opposite field stroke.

There isn't any reason to change the requirements for either pitchers or batters, especially if it doesn't make any difference as a large number of people claim. It is what it is.

Fans have so much more information today on minor league players. I routinely watch various parts of minor league games via milb.com. Fifty years ago, The Sporting News would publish dated milb numbers and then Baseball America began in 1981. BA featured fairly complete coverage of prospects and every minor league team, even if it was a bit dated by the time of being published. The progression of coverage has been outstanding for baseball fans. The Twins have some exciting players worth following in their system. It is also important to remember that experience often defeats youth. There will be roster changes next season, but folks should expect the team to include a number of veterans. I also think the Twins may look to repeat themselves with a trade similar to the Arraez-Lopez deal. There may be a couple of players replaced by less expensive contracts in the utility roles as well. The roster expenditures should be more likely to fall to the $125-140 million range due to a drop in media revenue. I have enjoyed watching the Saints but remember there is a distinct difference between AAA and MLB. I would be surprised if both Kepler and Polanco are dropped. Buxton has a no trade contract, Correa too. Any discussion/suggestions of trading either are useless. We just don't know what is happening with Byron. We hope he returns fully healthy but perhaps he is reaching a point where he is done physically too. We don't know or at least I don't know. Players that could push for full time infield positions are: Kirilloff, Julien, Lewis, Lee, and Martin with Polanco in the picture and Correa fixed at shortstop. Miranda, Castro, Prato, and Farmer could find utility roles. Castro and Martin fit in the outfield too. I don't expect Lewis on the grass. Thus a trade happens.

Fun to think about. Ohtani will get $500+ million this offseason. My guess is either Seattle, San Francisco, or the Dodgers, with my choice (guess) being the Mariners. Sure would be excellent to see Ohtani in a Twins uniform though.

Why not include Jenkins, Rodriguez, or other prospects? Miranda, SWR, and Varland have worn a Twins uniform. Martin and Lee have not made an appearance with the Twins. I do like the possibilities of the five currently rostered: Wallner, Julien, Lewis Duran, and Kirilloff (IL). I might have missed the explanation.

Baseball has always used a ton of data as well as other thinking to build lineups and rosters. It all comes down to basically picking a team. One guy picks Royce Lewis, another guy picks Ed Julien and so forth. Then the games are played. Of course there are a host of financial and theoretical differences that combine to give the answers to who is on the roster and plays, but the decisions are made to win games. Right now, I like the way that Julien makes life difficult for opposing pitchers. I see his awkwardness too. He even runs a little funny. I'm not feeling too bad about his defense as long as he hits like has thus far and I think he will improve quite a bit at the plate. I'm picking Julien to play second base or DH for now and next year too.

Varland, Varland - he's our man ....

There are a host of folks who don't think batting average is very important in today's baseball, preferring any number of alternate set of data. That's fine if that is what one sees as a more useful or representative hitting statistic. However, baseball does have a long history which includes noting a batting average champion in each of the NL and AL. In order to have a winner be "worthy", MLB determined that an everyday player should average 3.1 plate appearances for the 162 game schedule (502 PA). This ensures that a player who has a hot half season does not get rewarded over the guy who plays all season. This is fair. If a player does not have enough at bats, they can still win the batting crown if the number of at bats are added to the total needed to reach 502 PA and the hitter still has a higher average. Seager has 349 PA and should still get another 150+ PA through the remainder of the season. He will almost certainly qualify, but adding 10+ PA as outs may still find him winning the batting title. There is no reason to water down a batting title. Those who do not see much worth in a batting crown can easily ignore the whole thing.

Wallner's stock is up.

Thank you. That makes sense.

That is a fair point. I thought about that but also thought about the two days off this week and that Julien is likely hungry and fighting to improve (1-3 with a walk against LH on Sunday). However, there are always discussions within a club that fans have no idea about. I guess Gallo could always go 4-4 again.

I expect one or two guys to be traded. Based on how they have been used/treated (lineups, demotions, comments) and not understanding anything about whatever the Twins think, I would guess any of Larnach, Julien, and Wallner are fair game. Maybe Kirilloff too. I do not expect either Lee or Lewis to be traded.

If Julien cannot get playing time because he has not maintained a .300 average and 900 OPS due to a little slump, then his stock in the eyes of management has fallen. Who has been the Twins best bats (OBP)?